This year will be the third year the Varsity Cricket tournament takes place, a tournament that has, on both the previous two occasions, been won by the University of Pretoria (Tuks). We take a look at their road to the finals in 2015 and 2016, a journey they will hope to relive once again.
2015
Tuks secured their place in the 2015 semi-final, by winning six out of their seven matches, losing only to the University of the Western Cape (UWC), by the narrowest margin of 16 runs.
Despite this win, UWC could not secure their place in the semi-finals, when they finished fifth on the log with only three victories.
Stellenbosch University (Maties) lost two of their seven games in the round robin stages, first to the hand of Tuks, who beat them quite comfortably, by 36 runs on the first day of the tournament, then to the University of Johannesburg (UJ ), also on the first day.
However, the chaps from Stellenbosch recovered well when they went into winning mode from the second day of the tournament onwards.
In the semi-finals, Tuks were way too strong for the Johannesburg boys, UJ, beating them by 59 runs.
In the other semi-final clash, Maties had to work hard to secure a four-wicket victory against the North-West University’s Pukke.
In the final, Maties won the toss and elected to bat, however they could only score 125/7 after 20 overs. This was due to a match-winning performance by Tuks bowler Vincent Moore who claimed two wickets, but most importantly restricted Maties to score only 18 runs of his bowling.
Tuks had no problem chasing down this target, and they reached it after just 15.1 overs with Gerald Pike scoring 50 runs of just 38 balls. This performance ensured that Pike was awarded the Man of the Match award.
2016
In 2016 UJ finished top of the log beating defending 2015 champions, Tuks and losing only to the UWC in the round robin stages. Tuks were taught a cricket lesson at the hands of Maties, finishing a mere third on the overall log, behind Pukke and the UWC, who secured their place in the play-offs finishing fourth.
However, in the first semi-final, UJ could only muster 148/4, in response to UWC’s total of 169/4. With this victory, the boys from the Western Cape secured their place in the final.
In the other semi-final, Tuks proved to have too strong an artillery for the Pukke, bowling them all out for 137 runs in 18.3 overs.
In the final, Tuks batted first and reached 174/5 in their 20 overs, with Evan Jones scoring a quick 56 from just 35 balls. Blake Schraader also contributed well with the bat with his 40 runs off 24 balls.
Dean Mazhawidza kept UWC in the thick of things, scoring a solid 54 upfront. However, he did not receive much support from his teammates, and after 20 overs, UWC found themselves stranded on 153/6, 21 runs short on what would have been a historic win.
2017
Tuks are without the services of their two-time title-winning captain, Murray Coetzee and will be coached by Kruger van Wyk. It’s a new-look team, but expect the same determination and heart displayed by their teams on 2015 and 2016. It’s not always a smooth road to the final, but it’s a destination that the team have never failed to reach.
By Marnus Kok
